Here's what's happening this weekend in the USHL.
A Friday trade and a team looking to keep up its winning ways highlight a busy start to the weekend in the USHL.
Lancers Trade Leading Scorer
The Omaha Lancers and Waterloo Black Hawks announced a trade on Friday.
The Lancers sent their scoring leader Hunter Ramos to Waterloo in exchange for a Phase II fifth-round pick in the 2025 USHL Draft, plus a 2026 Phase I fourth-round and Phase II sixth-round selection.
At the time of the trade, Ramos was leading Omaha in points (24), and goals (13). The 19-year-old Fort Wayne, Ind. native also leads the club in shots on goal (112) and was tied for the team lead with five power-play points.
Ramos has played in all but one of the Lancers’ games this season. He saved one of his best performances for a Jan. 18 meeting against the Black Hawks, scoring two goals and adding an assist in a 5-3 loss.
The Lake Superior State University commit appeared in 47 games with the Youngstown Phantoms in 2023-24, recording 18 points (6-12-18). He scored the only shorthanded goal of his USHL career against the Hawks Feb. 29 of that season.
Friday’s trade is the latest in a number of moves the Black Hawks have made in the last month. Since Christmas, they have traded for Ramos’ former Omaha teammate, Kam Hendrickson, welcomed Slovakian forward Alex Misiak and dealt for blueliners Easton Hewson from Sioux City and Ryan Whiterabbit from the NAHL.
Stars Look to Extend Winning Streak
The Lincoln Stars are in the midst of a nine-game win streak, their longest this season. The last time they won 10 straight was from Feb. 23-March 17, 2018.
The Stars are expecting a large crowd when they face the Omaha lancers at the Ice Box on Friday. At the time of this writing, they had sold over 4,000 tickets for the game and is seeking its first sellout since March 9, 2019.
The arena’s capacity is 4,212, and the club’s largest home crowd of the season was 3,856 on Jan. 25.
Lincoln swept its slate of three games against three different opponents last weekend. At 28-11-1-0 (57 points), the team holds the best record in the USHL and is tied with the Dubuque Fighting Saints for the most points.
Storm and Lumberjacks Hope to Bounce Back
The Tri-City Storm (18-18-3, 39 points) are hoping to rebound from a two-game series sweep at the hands of the Chicago Steel last weekend at home.
The task certainly doesn’t get easier for the Storm, who find themselves sixth in the Western Conference, as they visit Muskegon to face the Lumberjacks, who sit second in the East at 23-11-7, 53 points. Muskegon is also looking for a bounce-back series after dropping two of three in Green Bay against the Gamblers last weekend.
Tri-City has dropped three of its last four games. The back-to-back losses against the Steel marked the first time since early November that the Storm had lost consecutive games at home. Seven of the club’s next 10 contests will be played away from Viaero Center.
Friday’s contest is the Lumberjacks’ first home game since Jan. 24, with six of their last seven games having been played on the road. Muskegon is 5-4-3 since the beginning of the new year.
The two games this weekend are the only scheduled meetings between the teams during the regular season. They split a two-game set at Viaero Center in 2023-24.
Off to the Races
This weekend is going to the dogs in Sioux Falls (sort of).
The Herd is transforming into the Sioux Falls Fighting Wiener Dogs on Saturday. The club will wear specialty black-out jerseys for the game, which will be auctioned off to benefit Dakota Dachshund rescue.
Since the first event in 2007, Sioux Falls has sold out 14 games as the Fighting Wiener Dogs, featured 550 race participants and contributed over $175,000 to the dachshund rescue.